


Shelter in the Storm

by Name1



Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family Feels, Friends to Lovers, Nature, Pre-Relationship, Romance, baby-steps, speaking without talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:14:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26066323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Name1/pseuds/Name1
Summary: They collected their things,  Cara scooped up the kid, and they started walking back to the ship; but it wasn't even another sixty seconds before the clouds decided a gentle sprinkle wasn't enough for the season and released a heavy rain that was almost a wall of water soaking the forest and them in it.They found the largest tree with the thickest canopy and huddled together underneath it, waiting for the worst of it to pass.In short: Cara and Din get caught in the rain.
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV), Cara Dune/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 79





	Shelter in the Storm

**Author's Note:**

> You guys, this isn’t even a story :) It’s a single scene of two dorks getting caught in the rain and their thoughts in place of their words. Lady_Vibeke was ever so ‘helpful’ in giving me a short prompt since I have the inability to write short things, so here it is. Under 3K too. *pats myself on the back*

It was so rare that they got to really set foot on the surface of a planet since most of their time was either spent chasing or being chased across the system. Today though, not only did they come across a planet between jobs that had fresh water, but one without any trace of humanoid life or large predators. As soon as the scanners came back negative, they couldn’t shrug out of their armor or lower the ramp fast enough. Quick fuel stops, a high-speed ground pursuit of a bounty, or a trip to a local market to resupply were usually as good as it got, so getting a chance to spread out a bit and shake off some cabin fever sounded like a luxurious offer too good to pass up. 

They never had real downtime or time to just put their feet up and enjoy nature, so they would savor every second of it today. They had landed on Felucia for fresh water, to stretch their legs a bit, and to give the air recyclers a much-needed break. Somehow between the two of them, Din and Cara managed to pass as a single functional parent and together they did a pretty good job at putting the kid’s needs first and anticipating what he desired--and what he desired now was dirt underneath his feet and grass between his little toes. Neither of them would tout having strong parental instincts, but it was remarkable how easily they figured it out when they were together. The kid needed to be a kid and play with rocks and twigs instead of dummy grenades and bits of cabling from the spare hyperdrive repair kit--even _they_ knew that.

Din looked at the topography sensors and called out to Cara that there was a lake nearby.

“We can walk there and back, maybe sit by the lake for a while,” he tells her, and it sounded strangely like a request. The map showed it was about a twenty minute walk each way.

“We shouldn’t stay more than half an hour,” she warns him, though already on board with his plan. “It smells like it’s going to rain.”

Din double checked the results of his scans. All the sensor readings said not to expect precipitation, despite the heavy gray clouds off in the distance. How could she possibly 'smell' rain anyway, he thought. Maybe she was teasing him. She did that a lot.

A half an hour later, their boots are covered in dirt but getting to the lake was worth it. They sat on a piece of driftwood and watched the kid sort through thousands of pebbles to find the smoothest ones to claim for his treasures. Each one he gave to Din and Cara, they put away to take back to the crest for his box of 'favorite things' he was accumulating. Only when they told him he had enough pebbles, did he start turning over rocks to look for worms and other interesting critters. In the shallows there were tadpoles swimming and he tried in all his gracefulness to catch them. They laughed together at his attempts and were relieved when he failed to get any into his mouth. It was nice watching him get the chance to be a kid, and nice just being together. 

“We should be getting back,” Cara says regretfully, when their thirty minutes on the shore had turned into fifty.

“Come on, another hour won’t hurt,” Din bargains, when Cara keeps looking at her chrono. He looks so relaxed it takes her aback. Din almost never asked to do anything frivolous or fun but here he was--really opening up and embracing their new life--enjoying the little things—for the kid’s sake. Seeing his feet stretched out in front of him with his hands nowhere near a weapon of any kind made her recognize how much he needed this. He was asking for a normal moment and she didn’t want to squash it. 

Let it rain.

She sighed, stretched her legs out in front of her to mirror him, and got comfortable waiting for the clouds to roll in. Cara had to admit it was nice working with a partner--that's technically what they were--though they had somehow gone from almost instant friends, to partners, to something more than that without either of them realizing what was happening until it was too late. Din had never gotten the chance to sit and enjoy nature without someone to watch his back, but now things were different since they were together as permanently as they dared speak aloud. Cara was never the "sit and smell the flowers" type either, but having someone you trusted at your back and someone you genuinely _liked_ by your side was enough to make her reevaluate. Maybe _she_ had been missing out on some of the small things too. Din and the kid had made her realize there was more to life than just barfights and using her body as a tool of thinly veiled revenge against an elusive scattered Empire and she wondered if it was the same for him. He said he was a different man than before the kid, but exactly how different she'd never know. She was certainly different after meeting them....worlds different.

They both seemed to savor the rare quiet moments together, but neither one would admit how much they liked them or sought them out recently. If they still needed to blame the cute kid for embracing these moments of peace and quiet togetherness, then so be it. They could continue in silence until one of them were brave or stupid enough to call it what it is. This wasn't just partners or two people who traveled and raised a kid together--not with the way they looked at each other when they thought the other wasn't watching (Greef’s dumb description)--not with the way their touches lingered longer and longer—and not with the way they only slept through the night when they shared his small bed. This was more than just affection or friendship....it was something else entirely and she wasn't sure if either of them had really felt it before. Given how lightly they both stepped, it was likely not, she thought.

Unbeknownst to her, Din had similar thoughts floating around his brain as the quiet of nature seemed only to amplify his inner thoughts about the woman sitting beside him. She was always beside him now.....a fact that didn't escape him.

He liked her of course..... cared about her, even. That was simple. He respected her obviously, and her beauty was undeniable..........but the feeling he had in his chest when she was injured or the few times he ever saw her truly scared when she tried to hide it.....that was something decidedly less simple. The way he felt something burning in his chest when someone badmouthed her in front of him made him question why it riled him so and if their enemies could tell it was a weak spot. The way he could barely remember what it was like without her laughter and her things all over the Crest made him feel afraid that there might ever come a day without it…

…………………………..

They enjoyed sitting together enjoying the sights and sounds of nature for another half hour before she saw the first droplets hit the still water of the lake; the concentric circles blossoming silently across its placid surface.

They collected their things, Cara scooped up the kid, and they started walking back to the ship; but it wasn't even another sixty seconds before the clouds decided a gentle sprinkle wasn't enough for the season and released a heavy rain that was almost a wall of water soaking the forest and them in it. 

They found the largest tree with the thickest canopy and huddled together underneath it, waiting for the worst of it to pass. The sky had opened up and walking back to the Crest in these conditions seemed like a terrible idea in the near zero visibility.

Din felt instantly bad for stretching out their break by the water when he saw the kid’s ears folded in close to his body to stay dry. He half expected Cara to throw a sassy jibe his way, but she didn’t; she just covered the kid with her body and made herself comfortable on the wet ground to wait out the summer storm. She never withheld a joking _‘I told you so’_ when she thought he was being an idiot, but she never said it when it really counted or he felt legitimately guilty. He somehow knew she wouldn’t say it now.

They were huddled side by side against the narrow trunk of the tree and he chanced a glance at her beside him. Her face was angled down but the kid was tucked up under her chin to keep him warm and dry. She was soaked--there was rain dripping down her forehead and down her cheeks and the drops ran off her nose and even gathered in her eyelashes when she tried to blink them away. The dark ends of her hair were even darker than normal--completely saturated with pleasant smelling rainwater. 

Din took in everything around him: the sound of the rain on his helmet; the smell of the wet earth and the gray color of the sky above them. Even the uncomfortable wetness soaking through his clothes that had nothing on the pleasant feel of her pressed against him. His senses were overwhelmed, but even in the cacophony of stimuli he couldn’t take his eyes off her against his side. They kept finding reasons and excuses and justifications to be close, but it seemed nature was getting on board now as well. If the kid in her arms didn't look so miserable, he might believe he had something to do with all this. That bean was sneaky and loved it when they were close. 

Cara currently had her whole body curled over said sneaky bean to keep him dry. Only the hair on the tips of his ears was wetted down, making him look cold and wet and pitiful--much like Cara, actually. Din didn’t even know if she was aware of what a natural instinct she had to protect the kid who was as good as hers by now. She was protecting him from the brunt of the downfall and taking it all herself _. That was just her_ , Din thought-- _quietly protecting the small child without ever drawing attention to it_.

People were always surprised to see _him_ so soft with the kid, likely due to the hard armor covering every inch of him and giving him an air of hardness and unfeeling, but it was really Cara who _he_ was truly amazed with. Since they decided to travel together, the kid had really taken a shine to her and she to him. Din might have been his father, but he’d be damned if the woman who kicked his ass didn’t turn out to be the more nurturing and protective parent of the two of them.

She wasn’t complaining as she used her body to form a roof over the kid, but he was getting damp all the same and while the air wasn’t cold, they would still start shivering if they couldn’t get out of the rain before long. Din’s head was protected by his helmet, but he was the only lucky one of the three. Without even thinking, he took off his cape, and draped it over his head and Cara’s; surprising her when everything got unexpectedly dark and dry all of the sudden. The fabric stretched over their heads formed a canopy over the kid and when she uncurled slightly, Din saw the curious green face looking around to figure out what happened to stop the rain. Instead of Cara making some smug comment about him being a sentimental idiot or not needing his chivalrous gesture, she just scooted closer so her wet hair rested against his equally wet shoulder. Once it appeared they’d be stuck there for quite some time with no break in the clouds in sight, Din adjusted the cape over their heads to a more comfortable position to accommodate their heads touching. The kid, content with the new arrangement, settled down across their laps and let his ears rise a little. Cara absentmindedly brushed some of the water droplets off his fuzzy appendages, so they’d start to dry out.

Both their pants were soaked through where they rested on the drenched earth but neither seemed to notice. The kid was now dry in their laps and they could deal with everything else later. Clothes would dry out eventually, but the kid didn’t need another cold.

There were no other life forms on this planet, and the sound of the rain hitting the cloak over their heads was strangely rhythmic and relaxing to them both. The warmth and comfort from Din’s body under their makeshift shelter was leaching into hers and she must have drifted off because when she woke up, Din’s head was also slumped slightly forward indicating he had drifted off as well in their dim, warm, close-quarter shelter. In the dark she saw the kid’s shiny eyes watching her curiously--he must have been on alert the whole time they nodded off--their own fuzzy lookout acting as a cute little sensor for any danger that might creep up on them. She might be able to admit in her own mind he was pretty damn cute sometimes. 

The rain had ended.

“It’s okay, kid. I’m awake now. You can relax,” she tells him to reassure him. He’s feather-light in her lap, but she feels him shift and snuggle against her to enjoy some quick shut-eye until Din wakes as well. She let herself enjoy the rare moment of peace with no enemies, nowhere to be, and nothing immediately to do pressing on them. It seemed that with nothing pulling them apart they naturally gravitated together in just the few minutes of peace and quiet. When something pulled them apart they fought like hell to get back together, but when there was no outside force their pull seemed just as strong. If she didn't know better, she'd almost think they--

She feels the instant Din wakes up as his head lifts off hers and his body tenses as he takes in the dark surrounding them from the fabric still over their heads, though the rain had since passed. It had been them against the galaxy for months now—Cara and Din--but under the piece of fabric with just their unarmored human bodies side by side against the elements, the thought of them as a unit against whatever the future might throw at them painted a beautiful and promising picture in his mind.

He notices she’s awake and feels slightly embarrassed for being caught so lost in thought as he woke. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” he mutters as he clears his throat.

“Me neither, but it was nice,” she tells him in return. He didn’t know she had drifted off too.

"We never get to see the rain, or hear it falling or smell the wet dirt," she tells him. "It feels very human, don't you think--to be surrounded by nature sometimes?" 

Din had to agree. The afternoon had been wonderful, and the impromptu shower and shameless daytime nap-turned-cuddle only added to it. “Maybe we should touch down more often,” he suggests and is rewarded with a pleased look from both her and the kid. “We could all use more time outside. I'll double check the weather next time though,” he tells her. He almost wanted to tell her she had been right just to see her dazzling smile she wore whenever she won a game between the two of them.

“Let's _not_ check the weather," she suggests. "Maybe we can get stuck in the rain more often. I liked it,” she says, as she takes his hand to stand up.

He nods as he grabs her bag and slings it over his shoulder to start their walk back. He can’t help but smile a smile she can’t see as he imagines stopping here again in the future with her. "I'll keep this place on the map then."

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading this short scene.  
> Until next time.... :)


End file.
